Uploaded October 2017 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago

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Electric eels are fascinating creatures. They emit high voltage electricity to track and control prey, but did you know they also jump out of water to attack threats? They've even been documented leaping at horses and humans. Kenneth C. Catania, a biologist and neuroscientist at Vanderbilt University who’s studied eels in the past, put himself in harm’s way in order to learn just how shocking eels are.
In a study titled "Power Transfer to a Human During an Electric Eel’s Shocking Leap," released Thursday by Current Biology, Catania found that even small eels can cause significant pain to humans. But thankfully the pain isn’t long-term. And thankfully, Catania is the one taking it for the team here.

Read the full story here: discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/scientist-shocks-himself-with-an-electric-eelbecause-science

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